CONGRESS APPROVES NEW HEALTHCARE TEST FOR MILITARY RETIREES

[DOD]

NEWS RELEASE

No. 415-97
(703)695-0192(media)
_IMMEDIATE RELEASE_ August 1, 1997 (703)697-5737(public/industry)

_________________________________________________________________

CONGRESS APPROVES NEW HEALTHCARE TEST FOR MILITARY RETIREES

The Department of Defense expressed its pleasure today with the news
that the Congress has approved a limited demonstration of Medicare
Subvention as part of the current budget reconciliation legislation.

"Improving access to military health care for Medicare-eligible
military beneficiaries is important to the Administration, and a
congressionally-authorized Medicare subvention demonstration project
is an important step toward achieving that goal for our
beneficiaries," said Secretary of Defense William Cohen.

Edward D. Martin, acting assistant secretary of defense for health
affairs stated, "We are delighted with the outcome of this
Congressional action; it provides us the ability to enroll and care
for more of our Medicare-eligible beneficiaries in TRICARE."
Demonstration details will be announced shortly.

Today's Congressional approval of a Medicare Subvention demonstration
project will allow the Department to show how it can improve access to
military health care on a test basis for those beneficiaries who are
now eligible for Medicare. Today, most Medicare-eligible military
retirees may not enroll in TRICARE, the Department's new managed
health care delivery system; they receive care only on a
space-available basis and access to all of the care they may need may
not be available when they need it. With Medicare Subvention, these
patients may enroll in TRICARE and be assured of the right care at the
right time.

_[END]_

_________________________________________________________________

_INTERNET AVAILABILITY: This document is available on DefenseLINK, a
World Wide Web Server on the Internet, at:
http://www.dtic.mil/defenselink/ _

_________________________________________________________________

[1]DefenseLINK Home Page [2]DefenseLINK News Home Page [3]Get original
file via FTP

References

1. http://www.dtic.dla.mil/defenselink/index.html
2. http://www.dtic.dla.mil/defenselink/news/index.html
3. ftp://ftp.dtic.mil/pub/deflink/bt415-97.web